tibia
Americannoun
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Anatomy. the inner of the two bones of the leg, that extend from the knee to the ankle and articulate with the femur and the talus; shinbone.
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Zoology.
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a corresponding bone in a horse or other hoofed quadruped, extending from the stifle to the hock.
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(in insects) the fourth segment of the leg, between the femur and tarsus.
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noun
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Also called: shinbone. the inner and thicker of the two bones of the human leg between the knee and ankle Compare fibula
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the corresponding bone in other vertebrates
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the fourth segment of an insect's leg, lying between the femur and the tarsus
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of tibia
First recorded in 1685–95, tibia is from the Latin word tībia literally, reed pipe
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Vocabulary lists containing tibia
Human Anatomy and Physiology - High School
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Human Anatomy and Physiology - Middle School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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They include a few isolated sauropod teeth, scattered bones likely from a sauropod, and two finds near Knysna: the theropod tooth discovered earlier and part of a tibia.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2026
Vonn suffered a complex tibia fracture and other major damage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
“Basically, I had a complex tibia fracture. I also fractured my fibular head, my tibial plateau — just kind of everything was in pieces,” she said.
From Salon ● Feb. 23, 2026
"I sustained a complex tibia fracture that is currently stable but will require multiple surgeries to fix properly."
From Barron's ● Feb. 9, 2026
I learned that the bones in the leg are the femur, the tibia, the patella, and the fibula.
From "Out of My Mind" by Sharon M. Draper
His meticulously assembled forest of skulls, femurs, tibiae, and fibulae isn’t sacrilege; it’s a memorial.
From Salon ● Jan. 23, 2026
The thighs are whitish, with the tibiae and tarsi yellow.
From Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Performed between the years 1818 and 1822 — Volume 2 by King, Phillip Parker
Under the stimulus of a straw, I see her legs move a little, especially the lower joints, the tibiae and tarsi.
From More Hunting Wasps by Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander
The genus, or rather family, of Epeira, is here characterized by many singular forms; some species have pointed coriaceous shells, others enlarged and spiny tibiae.
From The Voyage of the Beagle by Darwin, Charles
Some of the closed leaves contained no prey, but in one there was a rather large beetle, which from its flattened tibiae I suppose was an aquatic species, but was not allied to Colymbetes.
From Insectivorous Plants by Darwin, Charles
She said that, because of the rampant theft of some of the femurs, tibias and skulls in the past, the bones were now cemented together.
From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2025
She heightens the sense of otherworldliness by employing unusual materials, including horse tibias and cigarette butts.
From New York Times ● Nov. 11, 2020
Some think it has to do with skeletal structure: female tibias tend to slope backward more at rest, leaving more room to accelerate as they land from a jump.
From Slate ● May 4, 2012
And Lee carefully packed the bones, femurs, and tibias really straight, skull in the middle, with pelvis and clavicle surrounding it and ribs curving on either side.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
I learned that insects are arthropods and that they have tibias too!
From "Out of My Mind" by Sharon M. Draper
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
